Week 5.3

Question 1

Note about when expert testimony is required and how it must be presented

Answer 1

Note, expert testimony is required when it is beyond the knowledge of the typical juror but must be presented in such a way that it is not beyond the juror’s comprehension/understanding

Question 2

Define profiling

Answer 2

Profiling is the recording and analysis of a person’s psychological and behavioural characteristics, so as to assess or predict their capabilities in a certain sphere or to assist in identifying categories of people

Question 3

Where is profiling used? (8)

Answer 3

• Clinical psychology - profile probable pathological gamblers
• Health psychology - profile binge drinkers and settings
• Organizational psychology
• Selection [staff]
• Consumer behaviour - (predicting purchasing behaviour, best advertizing time and medium for specific populations)
• Forensic psychology
• Offender profiling - identify likely suspects or serial behaviours
• Jury selection

Question 4

Organizational profiling example

Answer 4

e.g. selection for the job, right person for the job

Question 5

Clinical profiling example

Answer 5

e.g. interested in finding people at risk of becoming pathological gamblers - around 90% hit rate using assessments

Question 6

What is offender profiling

Answer 6

• One of many criminal investigative tools
• Is a scientific [educated] attempt at offender identification
• Infers behaviours arising from a crime scene
• From these behaviours - determines offender characteristics

Question 7

Characteristics typically include (2)

Answer 7

• demographics [gender, age, education level, marital status, culture/ethnicity]
• psychographics [personality traits and any psychopathology]

Question 8

What is the primary goal of offender profiling?

Answer 8

Primary goal is to allow investigators to identify a specific offender from the general population

Question 9

Note about other psychology profiling (2)

Answer 9

Other psychology profiling - not as specific [focus on sub-populations rather than individuals] and not as critical [type 1 and type 2 errors]

Question 10

Who is involved in offender profiling?

Answer 10

Police, chemists, pathologists gathering evidence

Question 11

Example of what offender profilers want to find out

Answer 11

Is it planned crime (different type of person planning than someone drinking, argument, stabbing - disorganized)

Question 12

Why is it important to think about the victim

Answer 12

• Think about victim - gives leads

- 90% of murderers kill people they know

Question 13

This exercise is about psychologically profiling a potential killer. Here are the three suspects the police have arrested, and they want you to provide them with the suspect that best fits the evidence. Here is the police preliminary profile from family and friends.

Answer 13

Suspect A: Male, 25 years old, below average IQ, socially and sexually inadequate, lives alone, lives in the housing estate where the crime took place, anger issues - specific angry at ex-partners, manual labourer

Suspect B: Male, 30 years old, above average IQ, socially skilled, happily married, lives 30 km from the crime scene [but his car was in area during the crime, displays general anger and depression, follows media coverage of the crime, Master builder

Suspect C: Male, 40 years old, slightly above average IQ, known to have had extra-marital affairs, currently co-habiting with long term partner, lives in the adjoining suburb, unemployed - was dismissed from teaching because of allegations by a 15-year-old female student, angry at Education Dept

Question 14

Most crime committers…

Answer 14

Most offenders are normal - that is, they do not have diagnosable pathology

Question 15

The brief

Answer 15

The body of a 21-year-old shop worker has been found hidden under some fallen leaves and bushes just off a walkway that many people use as a short-cut from the city centre to an adjacent housing estate by a young couple walking their dog early on a Saturday morning.

The victim was last seen alive leaving her job at a shop in the city centre at 6.50pm when she said that she was going straight home. Work colleagues confirm that she often took the short-cut home. The housing estate where the victim lives houses approximately 2,000 people, mainly working class, labourers, or claiming Government Benefits. There is a high prevalence of unemployment in this area.

There have been 3 other reported attempted attacks on women within quarter-of-a-mile of the offence in the last 2 months. All the other victims managed to escape unharmed and identified a similar looking suspect.